YPSILANTI: Library receives grant for teen summer reading program

YPSILANTI: Library receives grant for teen summer reading program

YPSILANTI — For many teens, the Ypsilanti District Library is more than just a place to get books. It's a place to learn invaluable job skills, to build relationships and learn how to take responsibility, thanks to the Teen Zone, a haven that teen librarian Jodi Johnson has created in the downtown library, at 229 W. Michigan Ave, for the area's teenaged students. Through her unwavering commitment to improving teen programming at the library, Johnson recently obtained two grants, totaling $3,500, for the library to enhance this year's teen-focused summer reading program and the end-of-summer performance, "Shout It Out." One of the grants came from the Young Adult Library Services Association and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation in the amount of $1,000. The award will be used to fund paid summer internships for teens at the downtown branch. Johnson said she used the grant to hire four high school students, three from Ypsilanti High School and one from the Early College Alliance at Eastern Michigan University, to help revise the library's summer reading program. "I really wanted teen input on how the program should work," Johnson said. "We've tried different things but it really needed revising. They've been meeting and working on it since April." Johnson said the interns have been working 20 hours per week at $8 per hour to redesign the summer reading program. They've designed a new logo, a new theme and created a new blog and online system for participants in the reading program to log their activities throughout the summer. "It's a great way for teens to earn money and job skills," Johnson said. She has her interns track their hours in a journal that includes writing reflections about their experiences. The teen summer reading program Sthe interns have created is called "Dream It! Make It!" and goes along with the library's summer program theme, "DIY @ YDL." This year's program encourages participants at all levels (youth, teens and adults) to focus on do-it-yourself projects and crafts as well as reading. The "Dream It! Make It!" program meets every day at 2 p.m. and hosts a different topic each day. Each intern is in charge of running their own session based on their own interests. For example, one of the students hosts a session called "Make it Virtually," in which he teaches teens basic computer programming. There are also sessions devoted to music and science projects. For all of the projects and reading activities that participants complete throughout the summer, they earn a chance to win something in the final drawing at the end of the program. Johnson said that participants can do as much or as little as they want. Continued...


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